The advent of novel power controlled image intensifier circuits provides excellent light output characteristics to image intensifier tubes. The use of one such circuit is shown in copending application Ser. No. 646,799 filed on Jan. 6, 1976 assigned to the common assignee of the instant invention now U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,132. This circuit employs semiconductor components in a feedback circuit to result in good light output characteristics over widely varying ranges of intensifier input illumination and also describes the electronic sensing of the current changes applied to the microchannel plate of the image intensifier tube.
Semiconductor elements such as transistors and diodes vary inversely in voltage with increasing ambient temperature. The use of microchannel plate electron multipliers requires a controlled variation in voltage with changing ambient temperature due to the physical properties of the materials used in the construction of the microchannel plate. These variations in the intensifier components cause corresponding variations to occur in the overall intensifier gain. The purpose of this invention, therefore, is to provide good temperature compensation to power controlled intensifier circuits in order to result in good intensifier gain characteristics over a wide range of ambient temperatures.